Forays into Scotland
As we researched events in our 150-year history, for the 365 ‘tweets of the day‘ during 2015, we came across two occasions when we had wandered north of the border. The first was recorded in our Reports of Proceedings 1891, with the heading ‘Dumbarton Common’. This considerable area of land was set apart by Act of Parliament…
Read MoreAnglesey Council plans to dispose of public park
We are dismayed that the Isle of Anglesey County Council has published plans to dispose of Holyhead Park in South Stack Road. The public has six weeks, until 19 January 2016, in which to object to the plans. Thereafter, the council will invite expressions of interest for two weeks until 2 February, from anyone wishing…
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Charnwood Forest Regional Park
Chris Peat, our representative on Charnwood Forest Regional Park Steering Group, has sent us this report: The Open Spaces Society strongly supports the development of the Charnwood Forest Regional Park because it will protect and enhance important open spaces within easy reach of the urban areas of Leicester and Loughborough at the eastern end of…
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We help to save wonderful Wenvoe footpath
We are pleased to have helped our member, the Wenvoe Residents’ Action Group, to save a wonderful footpath at Wenvoe, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Earlier this year the Vale of Glamorgan Council consulted interested parties on a plan to move Wenvoe footpaths 21 and 22 in connection with a development to the west of…
Read MoreWe fight fencing on national park common
We have objected to an application to erect more than half a mile of fencing on Westerdale Common in the North York Moors National Park. The Graziers of High Blakey Moor have applied to the Planning Inspectorate for consent for the fence on common land to prevent sheep straying. The fence is on open country…
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Multi million pound Firle footpath ploughed up again
Yet again, the Firle Estate has ploughed up a path for which it gets a huge subsidy to keep open. The path, which runs south from the Barley Mow Pub at Selmeston, is one of the reasons that the Firle estate gets millions of pounds worth of Inheritance Tax relief. Until the Open Spaces Society…
Read MoreNew funding initiative to create ‘pocket parks’
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced a new programme that supports communities to work with local authorities and other partners to establish a pocket park. Pocket Parks are envisaged as small areas of inviting public space where people can enjoy relief from the hustle and bustle of city streets DCLG is…
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Croeso i Gymru?
‘Opinion’ by our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, was published in the autumn 2015 issue of Open Space. In spring 1986 I wrote an article in this magazine called ‘When you go off Offa’s …’. I had been walking part of the Offa’s Dyke national trail and then tried to return on a route using connecting paths…
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The Great Outdoors Personality of the Year award
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, has been shortlisted for The Great Outdoors magazine’s Personality of the Year award. She has been nominated as ‘a knowledgeable and fearless campaigner for our rights in the great outdoors’. Kate has been in post for 31 years. She is also president of the Ramblers, a trustee of the Campaign for…
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Castle Acre Green, Swansea, becomes a new village green
We are delighted that 2.9 acres of green space and woodland known as Castle Acre Green, Norton, in the village of Mumbles near Swansea, has been registered as a village green by the commons registration authority of the City of Swansea. This means that local people have established their legal right to continue to use…
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